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Geting room upgrades with AmEx and LHW?

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    I'm curious if anyone else here has had good luck with getting upgrades from Leading Hotels of the World or American Express Platinum.

    I have used both booking services, but I can't recall ever being upgraded other than one time when we mentioned that it was a special occasion as we booked our room.

    Yes, I'm aware that LHW has an elite membership to guarantee upgrades, but my understanding of the rules of the programs are that if an upgrade at the next level is available, then one will automatically be given.

    I know that I've been in hotels on both programs where it was far from empty, and yet no upgrade was ever even mentioned.

    Does one have to enquire about upgrades each time they check into a hotel on one of those programs to ask if there is anything available? Or does it happen automatically?

    If you've had good success with either program, or another program, please describe it here. Otherwise, I'm starting to wonder if these programs are just gimmicks.

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    I have had luck with upgrades from Amex Platinum at several hotels. I comfirm at booking, whether through the hotel or through Amex travel services, and then I call again a week before to confirm the upgrade. So, I suppose it is a bit declasse, but you have to speak up about it to get it. I have gotten it at the Bellagio, Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, the Ritz Carlton, and the Peter Island Resort.

    Thanks from: dbw
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    Interesting. But, how does one "confirm" an upgrade that only gets triggered by the actual availability at check-in? Whenever I've asked about the possibility of an upgrade at booking, they usually say it will depend on what's available when I'm checking in.

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    Typically the FHR upgrades are upon availability at time of check-in. The same is true of Virtuoso upgrades (Virtuoso is a program quite similar to FHR, but no need to spend $450 annually for a Platinum card).

    In Virtuoso, about 10% of the properties provide upgrades at time of booking. Otherwise, the best thing to do is to have your travel consultant phone the Sales Manager of the property, after making the reservation, and specifically ask for an upgrade. This is my standard procedure.

    Thanks from: dbw
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    I always assumed Virtuoso was nothing more than a network of travel specialists. I had no idea that they offered membership with upgrades for travelers.

    That's very interesting. Thanks for the tip!

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    LHW will not really land you that many upgrades, rather additional amenities. The upgrades will only be granted if your hotel of choice really has lots of availability.
    Fine Hotels and Resorts, the Platinum and Centurion program can get you some neat upgrades, it all depends on your relation to your AmEx Concierge, they sometimes go great lengths in providing you the perfect service (get them some memorable gifts from your travels ...).
    Virtuoso is often highly regarded by hotels as agents participating using virtuoso as their host network usually book guests that promise business, not only in terms of room nights but also regarding consumption in their outlets.

    I'd suggest to book through a virtuoso agent, if you do have the Centurion Card, they will be able to mention that to the hotel as well which will probably honor you in addition for carrying this card.

    Thanks from: dbw
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    @n-voi. Thanks I will definitely consider Virtuoso for my next stay. I don't have the Centurion Card, but I'd be willing to guess that the Centurion Card probably has guaranteed upgrades with their FHR program. I've heard, but can't confirm, that CC holders pay a $50,000/year fee to be in the Centurion card program. I think it would be criminal not to have guaranteed upgrades at that price.

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    I have been pleased with the virtuoso services at creativeleisure.com. A virtuoso agent once "leaked" theor name to me, and I discovered that they will book for travelers as well as agents. If you use them, I highly recommend Rebecca. They offer wonderful properties, and the virtuoso upgrades have made quite a difference in my leisure trips.

    Thanks from: dbw
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    I've found LHW to be fairly useless for upgrades. Virtuoso, on the other hand, seems to work fairly reliably and Virtuoso rates often include other goodies such as breakfast. I have never tried booking through Amex FHR, so can't comment on that program.

    DavidO, who posted above on this topic, is an excellent Virtuoso agent so consider getting in touch with him if you're interested in trying the Virtuoso experience out.

    Thanks from: dbw
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    This is great feedback! Many thanks to everyone here who has responded. I was completely unaware that Virtuoso offered better upgrade options.

    Jordyn, having booked with LHW and FHR in the past, I can tell you that like LHW, FHR seems to be just as useless.

    FHR will get you one "perk" like a one-way airport transfer, or a bottle of wine or something simple like that and supposedly the occasional upgrade. In truth, the FHR rates tend to not be all that competitive, in my experience, so I think it tends to not be a bargain. However, I have gotten some pretty good special rates with LHW.

    As n-voi mentioned, LHW does offer some very nice amenities even if they don't get you an upgrade very often. For instance, here is a photo of some fruit and a white-chocolate White House containing cookies that the Hay Adams in Washington DC left in our room for us when we booked with LHW. You can just barely see the welcome card from LHW behind the fruit.

    But, obviously if I had the choice, I'd definitely take an upgrade over the amenities.

      hay-adams-chocolates.jpg
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    Nice photo! But, I too would have preferred an upgrade instead.

    FYI, Centurion is $5,000 one-time initiation fee, plus $2,500/year, and you have a spending minimum of $250,000/year. I'm not sure if they offer guaranteed upgrades or not (let's hope they do, or it's a rip off), but I've heard that the Centurion card offers one free night a year at Mandarin Oriental hotels, provided you've paid for at least one night and it's not at the Mandarin Oriental in New York.

    On the other hand, it sounds like the Centurion card is more for people who don't care about upgrades that much. With that amount of purcashing power, they'd probably just pay the extra money to get the upgrade themselves.

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    dear all, as with all good things, they come with a price tag... put the centurion card really holds a lot more then just the upgrades in hotels and is worth the annual fee.

    have a look at received upgrades through fhr here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=3ea90f1145e6b2af10eef7e217f06b66&t=718448 just keep in mind that you need a platinum or centurion card and depending on the relationship with your amex concierge, the upgrade is pretty much confirmed.

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    @n-voi, I have a Platinum card, but I haven't gotten as many upgrades as I hoped using FHR. I'll admit that I haven't used FHR as much as LHW, and maybe that's part of the problem. And as I said, part of my reasoning for starting this conversation was to see if I'm not pressing them enough—either when I make the reservation or at check in—or if it has just been bad luck.

    Platinum card holders don't have a dedicated concierge like Centurion card holders do, we just have a hotline and some random agent makes the reservation. And there's even a separate hotline for FHR reservations. So, it's a little difficult to create a lasting relationship with those who book your rooms. I suppose I could ask whoever books my room for their direct number next time and just try to use them again in the future. Not sure if that's what you mean or not.

    I'm not complaining about the FHR service. The FHR agents have always been courteous and helpful. Rather, I'm trying to figure out how the system works and if there are any tricks to improve ones success rate. I can see from your link that people get upgrades with FHR all the time, so I'm just trying to get a sense of whether or not I need to speak up for getting upgrades or if they just happen on their own.

    Nearly everyone here seems to be a fan of Virtuoso, so I'm starting to think that looks like a better option.

    Great link by the way, I think I'll start a thread tracking upgrades/amenities for LHW, since that's the only experiences I've had!

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    I have to concur- the Virtuoso network is great for upgrades at a number of hotel chains (small and large).

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    So, I just made a reservation with a hotel through LHW since I found a good rate with them. What should I do now? Do I call the hotel directly in advance and request an upgrade? Or do I wait until I check in?

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    In case anyone is interested, I was able to land a LHW upgrade. Here's how it worked. I had an early flight, and I arrived at the front desk of the hotel at 8am to drop off my bags. I knew I couldn't check in that early but the receptionist was checking anyway. The receptionist said that my Deluxe Queen room wasn't yet available. I appreciated that their first instinct was to get me into my room as soon as possible. There was probably no way they were going to give me at that time of day if an upgrade was even available. After all, they have a right to try to sell the upgrade rooms for last minute travelers that might choose to stay there throughout the day. But, there must be a time of day where they start to feel comfortable giving away the upgrades.

    So, I said that I didn't need my room until the evening and asked her to hold my bags until then. I also requested a Leading Hotels upgrade if they were available.

    She said she'd see what she could do.

    When I returned later that evening, that receptionist had already gone home, but they had a Junior Suite all ready for me. I'm sure that they wouldn't have upgraded me unless I had asked in advance.

    And I definitely think that a willingness to arrive late, and communicating a request for an upgrade may have more success than saying nothing at all.

    The funny thing is that we weren't overly impressed with their Junior Suites (this was at the Alex Hotel in NYC). It was just a small room with extra room for a kitchenette. But, I was certainly thankful even to have that.

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    Here's one sneaky approach that you could try.

    At check-in, you ask if there are any other rooms available in the next room-category up from the one you had reserved. If they say "yes," then you flip them your AmEx or LHW card and say, "great, make it an upgrade!"

    Sure, it's incredibly sneaky. But on the other hand, they are supposed to give you an upgrade if there is an available room in the next room-category up! Two can play that game.

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    yeah, but you have to book your reservation through amex travel agent for upgrade. they don't give you the amenities just for paying with their card....

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    For all the talk on this site about LHW, I have never had any luck with them for upgrades and amenities. At the risk of being redundant, I have always gotten full benefits with my Amex Platinum. It is absolutely true, you MUST book through the Amex travel agents. Once booked, however, I call the hotel directly the day before my arrival to cofirm the availablity of my room upgrade. On a recent visit to the Ritz Carlton in San Juan, the hotel was fully committed and they said they could not guaratee my upgrade (I had booked a pool view, so my upgrade should have been to an oceanfront at that hotel). I asked about the availability of Club level rooms. They booked me on the Club Level, for a $60 difference in price, (istead of the $220 advertised difference in price) because they credited me the value of my automatic upgrade to an oceanfront room, even though it was not available. The rest of the Amex amenities: daily breakfast, 4pm checkout, $100 resort credit, along with the club level food and drink presentations made the trip extremely economical. One thing to note, I have found that Amex is not entirely successful in getting their Fine Resorts to honor advertised rates in NYC and include the upgrade and amenities. A room at the New York Palace for $420 per night was not available through Amex's travel system, and when they called to ask the hotel to honor the rate, the hotel refused. The same room through Amex would have been $740. The Amex representative said that NYC hotels are notorious for that, but that according to their agreement with Amex, they should have honored the rate.

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    MMMT, I agree about LHW. The Alex was the first time in a long time that I've gotten an upgrade with them.

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